Signal-lantern



Patented July 24, 1888.

(No Model.\

A. H. MULLIKEN.

SIGNAL LANTERN.

UNITED STATES A. HEN tY MULLIKEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SiGNAL-LANTERN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 386,715, dated July 24, 1888.

Application filed Ortober Q4, 1887. Serial No. 253,182. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, A. HENRY MULLIKEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ohicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Lamps, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention relates to improvement in the class of signal-lanterns used in connection with railroads.

The oilpots of lanterns of the class referred to are commonly formed, for the sake of cheapness in the manufacture and for the attainment of other advantages, by drawing the sheet metal of which they are composed into proper form to produce them,whereby they are seamless, eXcept as to thebottoms,which are adj usted in suitable grooves provided to receive them at the bases of the drawn portions. The sheet metal, to permit it to be drawn readily into the desired shape, must be quite thin, and as the rough usage to which such devices are inevitably and notoriously subjected by employs who have to handle them commonly has the effect of bending and distorting the shape of the thin metal circular flange which extends below the bottom around the base of the oil-pot, air-inlet spaces are formed between the flange and the body of the lamp into which the oilpot is inserted, which admit air at undesirable points, and permit the production of sufiicient draft to extinguish the light. Although the lanterns of the class, and in the connection referred to,are commonly subjected to very severe usage, as by being thrown about with more or less violence,which necessarily injures them in the manner stated, mere handling of the oil-pots, to insert them into thelantern-bodies or globe portions, frequently produces bending of the thin metal base-flanges in the grasp of the hand of the operator.

My object is to provide effective means for preventing unintentional extinguishment of the light, by the formation of air-inlet spaces, as above set forth.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows an oil-pot in broken sectional elevation provided with my improved reeni'orcing-base, and Fig. 2 is a bottom view.

A is the oil-pot provided at its base with the ordinary flaring flange B is the burner, and O the wick raising and lowering mechanism, comprising a spindle, q, extending through the burner near its base, and projecting therefrom equal distances at opposite ends, at each of which it carries a button, 1), and provided with the ordinary toothed wheel device, (not shown, but of common construction,) which extends through the side of the wick-tube into the path of the wick, and serves the usual purpose of engagingwith the wick to produce raising and lowering thereof by turning the spindle in the proper direction for the purpose.

To prevent bending or indentation of the flange r with use, and thus avoid impairment to the operation of the lamp, as described,and injury to its appearance, I insert inside the circular base-flange a disk, D, of stiff material-preferably metal-which may be secured in position against the oil-pot bottom m, as shown, or in any other suitable manner. The disk may be slotted at opposite sides of its periphery, as shown at s, in line with the ordinary slots s, provided with a base-flange, r, to admit the bent ends of the ordinary springs E, which serve to support the oil-pot in the usual manner in the lantern-body; but I do not limit myself to such construction. It desired, also, the metal disk, for the sake of lightness, may be hollow around its center, as shown, and provided with a peripheral flange conforming to and fitting against theinner side of the base-flange r of the oil-pot.

The peripheral flange of the disk D is perforated at intervals to admit the rivets which secure it to the baseflange r, and where perforated the metal is thickened or formed into lugs, as shown, in the casting, whereby weakening of the disk by the provision of the perforations is avoided.

By employing the plate D it may be unnecessary to provide the usual flange, 1', when the plate could be secured directly to the bottom of the oil-pot.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In combination, alantern oil-pot, A, having a permanent closed bottom, in, and a strengthening-plate, D, secured over the under surface of the bottom m, substantially as described.

2. In combination,a lantern oil-pot, A, having a permanent bottom, m, and abase-flange, r, and a plate, D, fitting within and secured to the base-flange, and extending to or substan- 5 tially to the junction of the base-flange with the oil-pot, substantially as described.

3. In combination, alantern oil-pot, A, having a permanent bottom, m, and a base-flange, a", and a plate, D, hollowed out on its under IO side, producingaperipheral flange which conforms to and fits within the base-flange r, and provided with perforated lugs at intervals, where the rivets are inserted to secure it to the base-flange, and with slots s to admit the springs E, substantially as described.

A. HENRY MULLIKEN.

In presence of JULIUS W. DYRENFORTH, CHAS. E. GAYLORD. 

